Call it the time Josh Earnest was less charming than Harry Reid.
The White House spokesman responded to an inquiry Monday from CBS reporter Major Garrett by citing a famous quip from baseball star Bryce Harper about 18 months too late. The context: President Obama’s alleged bro-ly nickname for fellow world leader David Cameron.
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“David Cameron said over the weekend the president calls him ‘bro.’ Is that true, and are there any other pet names he has for world leaders?” Garrett asked.
“Well, to paraphrase a local baseball player here in Washington, D.C., that’s a clown question, bro,” Earnest responded. The White House press gallery responded with muted laughs and groans.
“You don’t mean that,” Garrett said.
Earnest later made a “special relationship” joke that earned at least as much approval from the oftentimes tough crowd.
Harper, an outfielder for the Washington Nationals, said “that’s a clown question, bro” to a reporter who asked him if he would take advantage of Canada’s drinking laws during a road trip in Toronto in 2012. Harper, a Mormon, was 19 at the time, which is the legal drinking age in Ontario. The quip quickly went viral and spawned all sorts of apparel.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid quoted Harper’s remark in response to a reporter a week after the player made it, beating Earnest to the punch by about a year and a half. The surrounding reporters laughed rather boisterously.